“Dennis Rodman shooting a 3 had a retired Michael Jordan smiling”: When Scottie Pippen squared off against his former Bulls teammate on the Lakers with the ‘GOAT’ in attendance

Michael Jordan, in 1999, watched he former teammates, Dennis Rodman and Scottie Pippen, duke it out as the former even attempted a 3-pointer. 

The Chicago Bulls trio of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman has been talked about at great length in terms of both greatness and strangeness. Rodman is a type of athlete that, on paper, would certainly not mesh well with a dictator-type player like ‘His Airness’ and yet, the Bulls 3-peated with Rodman anchoring the defense inside. 

After their 1998 NBA Finals victory, the Bulls completely fell apart as Michael Jordan entered his second retirement, Scottie Pippen replaced a retired Clyde Drexler on the Houston Rockets, and Dennis Rodman found himself on the Los Angeles Lakers.

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A particular game in late February of 1999 saw all three of these Bulls legends reunite, not on the same team, but in the same arena. 

Michael Jordan was amused at Dennis Rodman shooting a 3-pointer. 

The Los Angeles Lakers hosted the Houston Rockets in Staples Center on February 28th, 1999 and it saw Michael Jordan sitting in the front row, watching his two former Bulls teammates square off with one another. As mentioned earlier, Dennis Rodman was playing alongside Kobe and Shaq while Pippen was on the Rockets with Hakeem and Chuck. 

One particular play saw Dennis Rodman grab a miss off the glass and run the floor for the Lakers. He passed it off to Kobe Bryant and the ball found its way back to ‘the Worm’ in the left corner. Rodman let a 3 fly, an extremely uncharacteristic decision made by him, and missed.

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When the camera panned to Michael Jordan who was sitting on the bench, a visible smile could be seen from the 6x champ. This makes sense considering the fact that Rodman was never known for his offense, especially his 3-point shooting. He shot merely 23% from beyond the arc on his career, with several seasons going by without a single make form the outside.